The present invention relates generally to a phased array antennas, and more particularly, to planar, low profile phased array antennas employing stacked disc radiators.
In the past, the assignee of the present invention has developed a phased array antenna using a disc radiator disposed on a dielectric post. That design was limited to about 20% of the available bandwidth. Copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/678,383, filed Jun. 28, 1996, entitled "Wide-Band/Dual-Band Stacked-Disc Radiators on Stacked-Dielectric Posts Phased Array Antenna," (PD-95223), where a phased array antenna using stacked-disc radiators on stacked-dielectric posts produced over an octave bandwidth. In the invention of Copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/678,383, the discrete stacked-dielectric posts resulted in a non-planar design, and a radome was not used. In the open literature, there are several microstrip disc patch array antenna designs, but these designs have very limited capability in bandwidth and/or scan coverage performance.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to provide for planar, low profile phased array antennas employing stacked disc radiators.